January 10, 2018

Book review

Most histories of the New Left end with the 1960s or early 1970s, often focusing on the White student opposition to the Vietnam War, and sometimes on the Black Panthers. But there was an upsurge in other ethnic communities that carried forward into the 1970s and 1980s. One of the most successful, at least in terms of its immediate goals, was the Union of Democratic Filipinos (KDP), which is notably absent from most political histories of the period.

Arts

Walking into “Seattle on the Spot: The photographs of Al Smith,” one is transported into Smith’s world. The sound of Fats Waller singing “The Joint is Jumpin’” fills the space along with hundreds of photographs showcasing the vibrant social scene and everyday life of the Black community in the Central District (CD). The images include a couple dancing the jitterbug for a watchful crowd, a newly married couple beaming, and a child sitting on the shoulders of his father with the majestic Mount Rainier in the background.

News

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson released new details in a lawsuit against the manufacturers of opioids alleging that sales staff at a Washington-state drug company collected data to push drugs to high-prescribers and did not report them as required under law.

Mayor Jenny Durkan kicked off the search for a candidate to replace former Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole who resigned from her position effective Dec. 31. Deputy Chief Carmen Best assumed the role of Interim Chief on Jan. 1.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions walked back an Obama-era policy that tacitly allowed states to legalize marijuana despite a federal ban, and Washington state is having none of it.

Sessions announced Thursday that he was rescinding the Cole Memo, which put boundaries on marijuana-related issues that U.S. attorneys would prosecute. The announcement prompted immediate reactions by politicians and civil servants from states that have legalized the drug, including Washington and Colorado.

Ishmael Jacob Daniel Simpson, 20, is dynamic and engaging. He is as chock-full of enthusiasm and passion as any person his age. In some ways, he is typical of many young adults — from the big plans he has for his future to his commitment to the art he creates.

Many hands make light work, but too few can be ruinous. One of the greatest challenges for the foster care system is the lack of foster parents.

“Our moral failing is as a community,” said Annie Blackledge, executive director of The Mockingbird Society. “We’ve created this ‘system’ to take care of ‘those kids’ so we don’t have to look. The idea we have in our heads is that ‘someone’ is taking care of it, but systems don’t raise kids, we do, and we’ve abdicated our responsibility as community members for caring for our most vulnerable. It lies at our doorstep.”

Lawmakers returned to Olympia to kickoff a legislative marathon with a regular session on Jan. 8 that will wrap up on March 8. That gives relatively little time for legislators to get through a raft of pre-filed bills, as well as the hundreds that have languished in the House Rules committee, waiting to see the light of day in the Senate.

Opinion

The stupidest assertion that Christians make is that politics don’t belong in the pulpit. In other words, preachers should not apply ancient sacred teachings to how our lives are actually publicly lived. Rather, spirituality is private and personal and disconnected from public life. The pulpit should contain itself to personal morality and doing good deeds. And so preachers appeal to ancient words that basically trot out tired everyday admonitions to love one another alongside empty moralisms that don’t go much beyond being a good citizen and a nice neighbor.

As a student of the social sciences, my understanding of the nature-nurture controversy — whether character, personality and behavior are determined by individual nature or the environment — is that neither alone is fully explanatory; both work together. Applied to the problem of homelessness, this means that what individuals bring to the table is just as important as economic factors like affordable housing.

Communities across Washington will get a boost to health and economic well-being this month when the new paid sick and safe leave law goes into effect. Employees who previously had to go to work with the flu or when a child is sick will be able to take time off to prioritize health and pay their bills in the new year, without losing pay or risking their jobs.

This week we were told Donald Trump has a bigger button than Kim Jong-un. Nobody wanted to hear that. I spent the whole week with my hands on my ears singing “lalalalala” to drown out all the big-button talk.

As I was getting used to the idea that 2018 would be all about which crazy man has the bigger big red button, Steve Bannon stepped in. I don’t know what’s going on between him and Trump, but it sounds like they’re getting a divorce. Our two daddies hate each other so much they’re telling the truth about each other, to maximize the hurt. It’s our fault.

Vendor profiles

Belinda Springer wants people to understand that you don’t have to be “mentally ill or poor or in some kind of trouble” to end up on the streets. That’s what she told audiences years ago in the Real Change Homeless Speakers Bureau. “I’m hoping that was the beginning for them making change.”